Schalke 04 vs. G2 Esports: LEC Match of the Week Preview
G2 Esports
The unstoppable force of G2 Esports was finally brought to a halt last Sunday as the “old kings” Origen returned to Europe to shut down any chance of an undefeated regular season. While this is very unlikely to derail G2’s plans for a 1st place finish, it showed LEC fans that the gap between the EU super-team and its rivals isn’t as large as it first seemed.
G2 took down every opponent in the first-round robin without being forced to leave first gear, sitting pretty at 9-0, and probably already thinking about who they’ll be facing at MSI. But they were hit with a wake-up call at the hands of Origen and Nukeduck’s Zed in a shocking result and performance which they will want to remedy against Schalke this weekend.
Despite being handed their first loss of the season, the plan will more or less stay the same for G2 in Week 6 – Pick up a lead in the early game through Jankos’ pathing and strong lane match-ups created by flex picks in the draft, then snowball the game out of control. The G2 line-up will undoubtedly be disappointed and angry that the 18-0 dream season has fallen out of reach, but the slip-up against Origen will motivate the team to finish the season strong, starting with a victory in the LEC Match of the Week on Friday.
One to Watch – Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski
It’s easy to forget how important Jankos is to this G2 team when he’s casting Requiem, the most mechanic-intensive ability in the game while getting overshadowed by three of the best laners Europe has ever seen. However, in G2’s win against Misfits Gaming last weekend, LEC fans were reminded of how talented Jankos is when he gave one of the best individual performances of the season so far.
From start to finish, Jankos’ Elise performance against Misfits was flawless. When picking an early game play-maker like Elise you’re pressured to create advantages around the map for your team in the first 10-15 minutes of the game and Jankos did not disappoint in that regard.
Within the first 6 minutes of the game, G2’s jungler had already killed both sOAZ and Febiven, providing his solo laners with an insurmountable lead. Not only that, Jankos finished the game with a very impressive 7/0/3 KDA, destroying Misfits and picking up his fourth Player of the Game award of the season.
G2 will be hoping Jankos can replicate this performance in the LEC Match of the Week against Schalke on Friday. If he can offer as much map presence as he did in his Elise game, then it will be impossible for Memento and Schalke to overcome both Jankos and his dominant G2 team.
LEC Match of the Week Prediction – G2 Esports Win
The top two teams in Europe facing off is always going to create a lot of hype, especially if it’s the weekend’s opening game and Schalke vs. G2 will be no different. While the last few LEC Match of the Week games have been disappointing in terms of action and excitement, I expect this week EU fans will be treated to a match-up of the highest quality.
Schalke’s focus will be on shutting down Caps and Jankos’ early game aggression, maintaining control for the first 10 minutes, then looking to find advantages through Memento and Abbedagge roams towards the bottom lane. If they can avoid falling behind in the early game, I believe Schalke can come out on top at the end of the LEC Match of the Week.
However, it’s an unbelievably difficult task to keep this G2 Esports team at bay, particularly when they’re coming off the back of a disappointing result against Origen and will no doubt be fired up looking for their 10th win of the Spring Split.
Through their flex picks in the draft phase, G2 will find strong lane assignments in the bottom lane or mid lane, then use Jankos’ early game presence to create a lead for either Caps or Perkz. While Schalke may be able to delay Jankos’ aggression in the early game, it’s only a matter of time before the G2 members overpower their counterparts and begin to take control of the game before closing it out to pick up yet another win.
But who knows? After G2 and Rogue’s shocking results last weekend, anything is possible!
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Disagree with my LEC Match of the Week predictions? Feel free to flash the #S04Win in the comments below!